Passage

Isaiah 55.6

Book: Isaiah · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"4. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples. 5. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not; and a nation that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee."

"6. Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near:"

"7. let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah." (Isaiah 55:4-8, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"4. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples. 5. Behold, you shall call a nation that you don’t know; and a nation that didn’t know you shall run to you, because of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.”"

"6. Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near."

"7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh." (Isaiah 55:4-8, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"4. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. 5. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee."

"6. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:"

"7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ^{the unrighteous: Heb. the man of iniquity} ^{abundantly: Heb. multiply to pardon} 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 55:4-8, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"4. Lo, a witness to peoples I have given him, A leader and commander to peoples. 5. Lo, a nation thou knowest not, thou callest, And a nation who know thee not unto thee do run, For the sake of Jehovah thy God, And for the Holy One of Israel, Because He hath beautified thee."

"6. Seek ye Jehovah, while He is found, Call ye Him, while He is near,"

"7. Forsake doth the wicked his way, And the man of iniquity his thoughts, And he returneth to Jehovah, and He pitieth him, And unto our God for He multiplieth to pardon. 8. For not My thoughts [are] your thoughts, Nor your ways My ways,, an affirmation of Jehovah," (Isaiah 55:4-8, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.